Kolkhorst sworn in, pledges to ‘leave it all on the field’

AUSTIN — Brenham Republican Lois Kolkhorst was sworn in Monday afternoon by Gov.-elect Greg Abbott as the newest member of the Texas Senate, pledging to uphold an old family saying and “leave it all on the field” as she gets to work.

“I will always strive to be a public servant and not an elected official, and I’ve always remained one of you, a regular person,” Kolkhorst told a Senate chamber filled with hundreds of supporters, including dozens of fellow lawmakers and incoming First Lady Cecilia Abbott.

Greg Abbott, the outgoing attorney general, administered the oath of office and presented Kolkhorst with a special gavel commemorating her swearing-in.

Kolkhorst, a seven-term member from the lower chamber, emerged victorious from a five-way race earlier this month to replace Glenn Hegar, the Katy Republican who vacated the seat in Senate District 18 after being elected comptroller. Abbott, Hegar and Gov. Rick Perry endorsed Kolkhorst, who made border security a key theme in her campaign.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul — another Republican from Brenham — delivered opening remarks at the swearing-in ceremony, repeatedly calling Kolkhorst a “tough Texas woman” not afraid to stand up for her principles. Nodding to her penchant for carrying a gun, McCaul predicted she would become the “Annie Oakley of the Texas Senate.”

McCaul, chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee, also described Kolkhorst as a valuable ally in coming congressional efforts to fight crime at the border, noting a TV commercial in which she said she is “not willing to give up one inch of Texas to the drug cartels and human traffickers.”

“I thought, ‘Wow, wow, that is a powerful, powerful campaign ad,'” McCaul recalled. “We’re not going to give up an inch in Washington, either.”

A special election has not yet been called for Kolkhorst’s former seat in House District 13. Her newly won Senate district stretches from outside Bexar and Harris counties down toward Corpus Christi.